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Cat thief dubbed real life ‘Denis the Menace’

A mischievous moggy named Denis has been dubbed Denis ‘the Menace’ in his hometown of Luton, Bedfordshire, following an 18-month crime spree, dailymail.co.uk reports.

While most cats grow out of the habit, Denis, a rescue cat, never did learn to give up clearing out his neighbours homes and gardens of shirts, dolls, paintbrushes and undergarments.

His owner Lesley Newman, aged 49, says that over the course of a year-and-a-half, Denis has easily amassed a haul of over 100 items, making him one of Befordshire’s more prolific cat burglars.

“He has completely filled two large boxes,” says Ms Newman. “I tracked down the lady who lost her sandals and Denis would have had to scale five 6ft fences to get there and back.”

Ms Newman says she doesn’t mind Denis’ criminal ways as he only brings items back to the house and not live animals. Plus, if something goes missing, the neighbours know where to look.

Most of the time Denis only gets as far as the front door too, but on occasions, some goods make it through the cat flap and into the house.

According to cat behaviourist, Vicky Halls, there’s nothing wrong with Denis’ behaviour: “It’s relatively common for cats to do this, and it could be the process of finding an object, grabbing it, and taking it back that they like, not actually the item itself,” she tells thesun.co.uk.

“Or, it could be the texture and feel of certain items in their mouth that they like, which could be why certain things are taken time and time again.”